Montenegro detains 20 Serbs amid national vote

Police in Montenegro arrested a group of 20 Serbs for allegedly planning to carry out attacks after polls in the country’s election close on Sunday night, BBC reported.

Police chief Slavko Stojanović told local media that the men planned to pick up automatic weapons to attack state institutions, police and possibly officials. One member of the group was on the run and those captured were charged with forming a criminal organization and for terrorism, Stojanović also said.

After the voting closed the situation got tense and police in the capital Podgorica was calling on people to stay indoors, not venture out to celebrate election results for fear of attacks, the AP reported. The plot thickened after police investigators discovered that a former Serbian special police chief led the group of 20.

Serbia’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić said his interior minister has informed him of the Serbs’ arrests in Montenegro and added that Belgrade has no information about the suspects.

Montenegro’s long-time leader Milo Đukanović, who was trying to secure his eighth term at Sunday’s election, has banked his political capital on bringing the tiny country on the Adriatic Sea into the EU and NATO.

His Democratic Party of Socialists is facing the toughest challenge since the country’s independence from Serbia a decade ago, from a small alliance of pro-Russian and pro-Serbian opposition parties that vehemently oppose Montenegro’s alliance with NATO. He signed the accession protocol with the military alliance in May.

Many of Montenegro’s 623,000 inhabitants remain skeptical of their country’s drift from Belgrade and its membership in NATO whose warplanes bombed Montenegro only 16 years ago. Opposition leaders have also accused Đukanović, who’s held positions of power for a quarter century, of rampant corruption and nepotism.

For his part, Đukanović said the choice for voters is simple: Either they support him, and continue on the path to Europe, or they support his opponents and turn to Russia.

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Andrey

Amazing piece. Just like in the Animal Farm. 4 legs good, 2 legs bad. “Đukanović said the choice for voters is simple: Either they support him, and continue on the path to Europe, or they support his opponents and turn to Russia”. And everyone who is against Djukanovic’s corruption is a radical, terrorist etc.